Deputies: Man raped woman, set hair on fire

Authorities say suspect drove victim to camper in Marion County

A 29-year-old man who gave a ride to an Orange County woman is charged with raping her, then setting her hair on fire at a remote camper in Marion County, authorities said Thursday.

Efthimios Michael Zachary Mikedis of SE 52nd Street in Oklawaha is charged with sexual battery and being held in Marion County Jail on $10,000 bond, the Sheriff’s Office said.

According to a news release, the victim wanted to move from Orange to live with an aunt in Ocala. The aunt connected her with Mikedis, and they became friends on Facebook, deputies said.

Mikedis, 29, offered her a ride on Jan. 5, the news release said, but when he arrived at her home, she said she was “instantly be scared of” him and told him she didn’t want to go. She already was in his van, as were his mother and another man.

Mikedis forced an “unknown substance” in her mouth and later she started to lose consciousness, an arrest report states.

Instead of taking her to her aunt’s house, Mikedis took her to a property that had a trailer and three campers, where authorities say Mikedis raped her. Mikedis’ mother had left earlier, but the victim says there was another person in the camper who also raped her while she was blacking out, deputies said.

She could not identify that person.

When the woman woke up the next morning, she tried to call an Uber, but Mikedis again forced a substance into her mouth then forced her into another camper where he starting burning her hair with a cigarette as she again was blacking out, the arrest report says.

Later, his mother returned, and they drove the woman in a van to a shopping center in Silver Springs, where they left her, the sheriff’s office said.

The woman reported the rape to the Orlando Police Department as she was being treated in Orange County at the AdventHealth

Waterford Lakes ER. Marion County sheriff ’s detectives investigated and arrested Mikedis, who already was in jail on unrelated charges, including a parole violation for domestic battery by strangulation.

They also are seeking another person who was in the van for questioning.